HomeJapaneseIn English we can colloquially that we are salty when we’re angry or annoyed. Are there such expressions based on spices or foodstuffs in Japanese to describe feelings and emotions?
In English we can colloquially that we are salty when we’re angry or annoyed. Are there such expressions based on spices or foodstuffs in Japanese to describe feelings and emotions?
In English we can colloquially that we are salty when we’re angry or annoyed. Are there such expressions based on spices or foodstuffs in Japanese to describe feelings and emotions?
One that comes to mind is 水臭い(みずくさい) which means stand-offish or reserved, but is literally “smells of water”.
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When someone is jealous you can say they 焼き餅を焼く (grill mochi rice cakes)
甘酸っぱい (あますっぱい) bittersweet
Maybe I’m wrong, but I always thought “salty” was a roundabout reference to tears, because they are saline (they have salt in them). So, calling someone salty is sorta like calling them a crybaby, having nothing to do with foods/spices lol
My mechanic used “渋い” shibui- “astringent” to express “elegant” when he was trying to get me to buy this weird old man Toyota Crown he’d picked up at auction.
And Jjisho.org is simply saying it’s a word that has two separate meanings, so it may not really count. But it surprised me when he used it because I’d only heard it in the context of wine tasting.
塩対応(しおたいおう)
Not salty in the sense of English, but also negative. It means treating someone coldly, without friendliness.
そっけない、愛想のない、冷淡な接し方を指す言い方。いわゆる「しょっぱい」対応という意味の語
Not really directly feelings, but I enjoy the idiom “sell oil” (油を売る、あぶらをうる) meaning to dawdle around, waste your time talking crap about something when you should be working or whatever etc. And since we talking idioms and you were talking salt, how about “salt on greens” (青菜に塩、あおなにしお) to feel like emotionally downhearted or whatever. (Of course, just like most languages; idioms shouldn’t be forced into typical conversations randomly, but they are a fun peek into the world view of a language.)
ごますり (grind sesame seeds) is roughly “butter them up” or brown-noser”
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One that comes to mind is 水臭い(みずくさい) which means stand-offish or reserved, but is literally “smells of water”.
[deleted]
When someone is jealous you can say they 焼き餅を焼く (grill mochi rice cakes)
甘酸っぱい (あますっぱい) bittersweet
Maybe I’m wrong, but I always thought “salty” was a roundabout reference to tears, because they are saline (they have salt in them). So, calling someone salty is sorta like calling them a crybaby, having nothing to do with foods/spices lol
My mechanic used “渋い” shibui- “astringent” to express “elegant” when he was trying to get me to buy this weird old man Toyota Crown he’d picked up at auction.
And Jjisho.org is simply saying it’s a word that has two separate meanings, so it may not really count. But it surprised me when he used it because I’d only heard it in the context of wine tasting.
塩対応(しおたいおう)
Not salty in the sense of English, but also negative. It means treating someone coldly, without friendliness.
そっけない、愛想のない、冷淡な接し方を指す言い方。いわゆる「しょっぱい」対応という意味の語
Not really directly feelings, but I enjoy the idiom “sell oil” (油を売る、あぶらをうる) meaning to dawdle around, waste your time talking crap about something when you should be working or whatever etc. And since we talking idioms and you were talking salt, how about “salt on greens” (青菜に塩、あおなにしお) to feel like emotionally downhearted or whatever. (Of course, just like most languages; idioms shouldn’t be forced into typical conversations randomly, but they are a fun peek into the world view of a language.)
ごますり (grind sesame seeds) is roughly “butter them up” or brown-noser”
Butter kusai is an old expression for foreigners.